The Last Before The Beginning

Dear Bloggers,
      I am writing you today with some exciting, yet sad news. Today I made my last meal in an actual beautiful kitchen, and in about 4 days, I will be cooking in my new apartment. Well, my home, but it will be hard because the kitchen is so small and I've been so spoiled working in a beautiful environment with granite counter tops, now I will be down-grading, but that certainly does not mean that any of the food will taste any lesser. So today, I made something so simple because I spent all day packing up Shelly (my car) and washing her, getting her all ready to travel to Tennessee tomorrow. Wow, I can't believe that it's actually tomorrow. Anyways, I quickly threw together something delicious and light because I little time. I cooked some orchiette then added 1 teaspoon of butter along with fresh basil. Light and simple and oh so delicious. Sometimes it's the simple things in life that taste the best, Well, as for the blogging, you guys will not be blessed with my writing for a few days. Seeing as I have no followers, this will not seem to affect anyone, haha. Wish me luck though & pray that nothing dangerous happens. I hope that we will arrive safely and happily. Well, until next time continue to stay healthy and happy cooking!

A Final Mexican Pleasure

Dear Bloggers,
     I've been dabbling into some fun delicious spanish meringue and salsa music. I guess that brought out the fire for my craving of some delicious mexican food. Today, of course I made a meal from those fresh fusilli that I made the other night. Although, I did not anticipate that I would make so little food. I boiled the fresh handmade fusilli for 5 minutes. In a pan I sautéed 1 chopped tomato, 1 fresh clove of diced garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, 4 quartered Spanish olives, and basil. I added the fusilli and let it cook for 3 minutes. I ate it immediately to find absolute and pure satisfaction. Oh dear, it was very little, yet it was so yummy. From the first to the last bite, it made me truly appreciate homemade pasta and yes, it is work all of that extra work to have a fresh pasta.

     To satisfy that craving of Mexican food, we decided to head over to La Fiesta Taqueria and it was traditional Mexican food. Now that I will be moving to Tennessee permanently, the selection of fresh Mexican food is quite limited and living in California, I am spoiled to have all of those beautiful border hoppers share their cuisine with us. I ordered the Chile Verde and was more than perfectly satisfied. I was blown away by the intricate amount of flavors in the chile verde sauce and how perfectly everything on the plate went together. Sure it came with just a side of refried beans, rice, and guacamole. It was all of that I had missed because from being away from it that long, I realized how good it was. So I made some chile verde soft tacos and gobbled them up so quickly. If you are ever in Sacramento, be sure to go to this restaurant as it is delicious, authentic, and quite inexpensive. Anyways, have a peaceful night and continue to stay healthy and happy cooking!

Is She Italian or Russian?

Dear Bloggers,
       Now I am questioning what ethnicity I am seeing as I perfectly made Pirozhki for the first time. Yes, and they were so time consuming and quite easy. It wasn't just making the dough, then preparing the stuffing, then forming them. It was the tender loving care it took to make them taste amazing and fluffy inside.
        It all began with my first blog of the Russian diet and what composed it and why. There I stumbled upon this beautiful creation, the pirozhki. After carefully examining it and seeing different ways to cook the pirozhki I decided to make the traditional pirozhki which consist of ground beef, onion, and cabbage filling. I began by making the dough where I combined 1 package of yeast with 1 teaspoon of sugar, and 1/4 cup of 114 degree water. In a bowl to the side, I started with 2 cups of flour. In pyrex glass cup I heated up 1 cup of almond milk (original recipe calls for whole milk, but I'm lactose intolerant) with 1 teaspoon of honey. I whisked 2 eggs in a bowl with 2 teaspoons of salt and mixed the eggs with the milk. I added the milk and eggs to the flour and then added the yeast. Make sure that your milk mixture does not exceed 115 degrees as it will kill the yeast. Then I gradually added in more and more flour until a perfect dough was formed. I oiled the dough in a bowl and let it rise in the oven with the light on for 1 1/2 hour.

       While the dough was rising, I diced 1 yellow onion and put it in a saucepan with 2 teaspoons of olive oil and began to cook the onions, then added in 1 pound of ground turkey. I seasoned with 2 teaspoons of dill, salt, and pepper, and 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric. I put it aside in a bowl. In the same pan, I added some more olive oil and cooked down 1/2 chopped cabbage with salt and pepper, then added the cabbage to the ground turkey and onions. I then hard boiled 2 eggs and chopped them and added them to the turkey mixture in the bowl. Once the dough was done rising, I formed golf sized balls (makes approximately 30) and put them on baking sheets lined with flour. Then, I put them back into the oven to rise for another 30 minutes.

        Then I rolled out the individual balls into 3-4 inches in length and 5 inches in diameter. I filled them with the turkey mixture, 2 teaspoons at most, then lined the edges with egg to seal. I then folded the two edges in and placed them seam side down on a greased baking sheet. I painted egg wash onto the dough and salted them before I cooked them for 15 minutes on 400 degrees. They turned out beautifully and deliciously. I guess you could say I'm Russian secretly, haha. I served the pirozhki with a warmed spiced tomato soup. It was quite a yummy meal. Well, I hope you try this recipe and don't run away in fear, despite its time consumption of 4 hours. Yes, 4 hours, but it all paid off when they came out of the oven. The smell in the house is indescribable. Until next time, stay healthy and happy cooking!

Handmade Pasta from the Napolitan

Dear Bloggers,
      WOW! What a day! I cannot believe that I will driving to Tennessee this time next week and hopefully arriving around now. I just cannot believe it. Today I accomplished quite a goal, to successfully make handmade pasta. I made two types of pasta, le linguine and i fusilli lunghi. I simply began by creating a well with flour and 1 egg and slowly mixing the two together until a perfect dough was formed. After, I rolled it out into a thin long sheet. After, I folded the sheet into quarters and re-rolled it out. Once rolled thinly again to the size of the first long sheet, I folded it back up into sixths. I rerolled it for the final time until I maintained another long thin sheet. This process allows the pasta to be as smooth and elastic as possible. Yes, with a pasta roller it would have been a lot easier, but that's where the workout comes in by rolling it with a marble pastry roller. Fun! Once the thin sheet was rolled out, I cut the edges to make them all even and folded it long ways to create a roll with multiple sheets. In between each sheet I added a good amount of flour to prevent the pasta from sticking while cutting. I simply ran my knife along the roll of pasta and cut them in 1/8th dices, then pulled them all apart and laid them out to dry. These are the linguine. If you want to create i fusilli lunghi, simply take the linguine and wrap them around a pencil and press the ends in on each other then lay out on a cutting board to dry.

           So simple and so delicious! This pasta looks beautiful and will make an excellent meal later on. After today, I know what I'm going to do for the rest of my summer, master pasta and bread making because after that, I know my skills will improve tremendously. Well until next time, I hope you continue to stay healthy and happy cooking!

Roasted Spaghetti Squash & Mixed Beans Quinoa

Dear Bloggers,
       Come aveva la tua giornata? Hopefully your day was just as wonderful as mine as well. I volunteered some time to help my step ma in her classroom and clean up, grade papers, organize papers, and just enjoy the presence of seventh graders once again. It was fun and and entertaining as one kid in her sixth period class was attempting to flirt ridiculously and trying to get my attention while I was grading papers. It was great and adorable. Anyhow, I got back and decided to cook up a meal with so much heartiness and nutritional value because I hadn't eaten much throughout the day.
       I cleaned up a spaghetti squash by cutting it into thirds and removing the seeds and excess pulp. I placed them into a ceramic dish with a 2 inch water bath and decorated the squash with olive oil, salt, pepper, red onion slices, and fresh parsley. I roasted them on 400 for 35 minutes until almost fully done. You do not want the squash to be overcooked and too tender at this point because it will be cooked additionally with the quinoa. In a saucepan, at the same time, I cooked 32 oz of chicken stock with mixed beans (whichever you like) fresh sage, and pepper until done. When the squash was finished, I removed it from the oven and began forking it until all of the squash was clean from the peel. In a pan, I added 1 teaspoon of olive oil with 2 roughly chopped tomato, and a half finely diced red onion. I added 1 1/3 cups of quinoa with 2 cups of water and let simmer on low. After adding the squash to the quinoa, tomatoes, and onions, I added the beans and 2 leaves of sage then let cook on low, covered for 40 minutes. I removed it from the heat and served it immediately with a leaf of fresh sage.

      This meal was outstanding in flavor and health benefits. Quinoa is the only grain known to man that is  classified as a protein because it contains 8 of the essential amino acids. In addition, the squash we added incorporates a significantly high amount of fiber and omega 3 fatty acids. YES! So, you simply cannot turn away from this dish when it tastes this spectacular and fuels your body with so much nutrition. Well, maybe you'll stop reading this now and get to cooking this recipe! Until next time, lovelies, stay healthy and happy cooking!

Radiatori Alla Carbonara

Dear Bloggers,
       Ok, I've been quite a typical Italian Californian and have spent the first 4 hours of my day tanning and relaxing by the pool. Although, it would have been more majestic by the ocean. Anyways, I got back from tanning and thought, well I have to make a meal today for my readers because tonight we are taking my step mother out for a mother's day dinner. I was thinking ok, pasta alla carbonara; delicious and nutritious. So I was looking around the pantry and saw radiatori which are beautiful spiral pasta with such a hearty bite, so I was like, what the hell, we'll modify. I began by cooking the pasta for 8 minutes until al dente, then in a saucepan I melted 2 tablespoons of butter and added the pasta and a little of the pasta water once cooked. I let it cook for 3-5 minutes to let all of the butter incorporate flavor into the radiatori. Then, on the side I mixed one egg, 1 clove of garlic, salt, pepper, basil, and parmigiano reggiano. I took the pasta off the heat and added the egg mixture and stirred it all together until well incorporated. You have to make sure the pasta is off the flame when adding the eggs or you will end up with fried egg bits in your pasta and that is not part of the dish. I plated the pasta with more fresh parmigiano reggiano and 2 sprigs of basil. Such a yummy dish for lunch that added carbohydrates to your day and still allows you plenty of time to burn them off throughout your busy day. Well, until next time, I hope you enjoy this recipe and stay healthy and happy cooking!

Le Pizzette di Napoli

Dear Bloggers,
        Today I was inspired to make some delicious pizza and make them far from the traditional Napolitan pizzette. I decided in the beginning of the day to make a quinoa dish with squash, tomatoes, and zucchini, however, I didn't have all of the ingredients. Thus, I improvised and made pizza, haha. I began by making the pizza dough with 2 1/2 cups of sifted flour, 1/2 cup of water, salt, 1/4 cup of olive oil, and the active yeast. I formed the dough and let it rise for an hour and forty five minutes. Then, I placed them in the pans and let them rise for an additional hour. I mixed up some leftover ricotta with spinach, salt, pepper, and a smidgen of rosemary and decorated my first pizza with the mixture. I added some sliced tomatoes to the top and drizzled it with olive oil. For the second pizza, I placed a thin layer of mozzarella cheese, then thinly sliced potatoes with salt, pepper, and rosemary. I drizzled it with olive oil and topped it with a few sprigs of fresh basil. I baked them for 15 minutes on 390 degrees. It was such a simple meal, delicious, beautiful, however, I would say that they could've been better. I wasn't too impressed by the dough. I had high expectations of how the dough could've turned out. Next time what I will do is bake the focaccia bread from the previous recipe and then dress them and let them cook for an additional 10 minutes to allow that beautiful rise in the bread which was absent this time around. Anyways, give these recipes a try and see how you like them yourselves. Until next time, stay healthy and happy cooking!